Sam Shepard and the Aesthetics of Performance

Creedon, Emma

doi:10.1057/9781137527417

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 8 publications

(16 reference statements)

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“…In the first situation, the reader/audience grapples with the world of the surreal where the supernatural world of the outside merges with the natural world of the room inside. As Creedon (2015) quoting Louis Aragon points out, if "reality is the apparent absence of contradiction," a construct that obliterates conflict, then "the marvelous is the eruption of contradiction in the real" (p. 46). In Aragon's Surrealist sense of le merveilleux, Buried Child adapts for the stage an 'eruption of contradiction in the real,' while mindfully dramatizing the mechanics of this representation at work.…”

Section: Modern Myth: the Hybrid World And The Visible/invisible Worlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sam Shepard and the “Familial Maze”: Possible Worlds Theory in Buried Child

Amani

Pirnajmuddin

Marandi

2017

GEMA

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The present paper attempts to address Sam Shepard's treatment of American family in Buried Child focusing on 'world construction.' In order to explore the process of world creation in the play, the writers draw on the works of Marie-Laure Ryan, a key theorist in 'possible worlds theory,' one of the orientations in cognitive poetics. Considering Shepard's highlighting of the bonds among the family members figuring in his plays, the interactions of characters with Textual Actual World (henceforth TAW) are of paramount importance and contribute to what Ryan calls 'tellability.' Central to our analysis is the consideration of the characters' private worlds' interactions and their intrafamilial and extrafamilial conflicts. Shepard is also centrally concerned with American (popular) culture and its underlying myths, hence the prominence of the theme of American Dream in his oeuvre. As such, the projection of the characters' wish worlds is central in Shepard's play. Considering these "wish worlds" in terms of possible worlds-theory could be rewarding. Many of these wish worlds, it is argued, hinge on the notion of American family whose consideration by Shepard stems from his interest in the questions of origins, identity, selfhood, and autonomy.

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Section: Modern Myth: the Hybrid World And The Visible/invisible Worlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sam Shepard and the “Familial Maze”: Possible Worlds Theory in Buried Child

Amani

Pirnajmuddin

Marandi

2017

GEMA

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Unnatural narratives in Sam Shepard’s Mad Dog Blues

Pirnajmuddin

Amani

2019

Neohelicon

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Negotiating Reality: Sam Shepard’s States of Shock, or “A Vaudeville Nightmare”

Mirowska

2017

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In the course of a career that spans half a century, from the Vietnam era to the America of Barack Obama, Sam Shepard has often been labelled as a “quintessentially American” playwright. According to Leslie Wade, “[d]rawing from the disparate image banks of rock and roll, detective fiction, B-movies, and Wild West adventure shows,” Shepard’s texts “function as a storehouse of images, icons, and idioms that denote American culture and an American sensibility” (Sam Shepard 2). The article addresses Shepard’s work in the 1990s, when - as suggested by Stephen J. Bottoms - the writer’s prime concern was with depicting “a Faustian nation mired in depravity and corruption” (245). The discussion centres primarily upon a brief anti-war play first presented by the American Place Theatre in New York City on 30 April 1991, States of Shock, whose very title appears to sum up much of the dramatist’s writing to date, aptly describing the disturbing atmospheres generated by his works and the sense of disorientation frequently experienced by both Shepard’s characters and his audiences. The essay seeks to provide an insight into this unsettling one-act play premiered in the wake of the US engagement in the First Gulf War and deploying extravagant, grotesque theatricality to convey a sense of horror and revulsion at American military arrogance and moral myopia. It investigates how Shepard’s haunting text - subtitled “a vaudeville nightmare” and focusing on a confrontation between a peculiar male duo: an ethically crippled, jingoistic Colonel and a wheelchair-using war veteran named Stubbs - revisits familiar Shepard territory, as well as branching out in new directions. It demonstrates how the playwright interrogates American culture and American identity, especially American masculinity, both reviewing the country’s unsavory past and commenting on its complicit present. Special emphasis in the discussion is placed on Shepard’s preoccupation with the aesthetics of performance and the visual elements of his theatre. The essay addresses the artist’s experimental approach, reflecting upon his creative deployment of dramatic conventions and deliberate deconstruction of American realism.

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Sam Shepard and the Aesthetics of Performance

Cited by 5 publications

References 8 publications

Sam Shepard and the “Familial Maze”: Possible Worlds Theory in Buried Child

Sam Shepard and the “Familial Maze”: Possible Worlds Theory in Buried Child

Unnatural narratives in Sam Shepard’s Mad Dog Blues

Negotiating Reality: Sam Shepard’s States of Shock, or “A Vaudeville Nightmare”

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